Secrets Revealed: Reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
by SisterOfAnElvenWannabe
Summary: Two years after the tragic death of James and Lily Potter, Dumbledore, the Heads of Houses, the Weasleys, the Tonks', Fudge, Remus, and Sirius read the books.
1. Prologue: The Mysterious Letter

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, a middle-aged British billionaire who live sin Scotland, I'm a 17-year old lower middle class girl born in Zimbabwe, who lives in America.**

**Note: So my sister showed me this site called fictionhunt. Whenever Harry Potter fanfictions are posted they are posted there as well, and even if a story here is deleted here it's not deleted there, so all the stories deleted here are still able to be read there.**

**Prologue: The Mysterious Letter**

The tapping of an owl outside his office window was certainly not an unusual sound to Albus Dumbledore. The headmaster got to his feet and opened the window allowing a large grey owl to fly in. He untied the letter from its leg and it flew off again. He unfolded the letter, and read it. The contents proved to be very unusual indeed.

_Dear Albus Dumbledore,_

_Please contact the following people and ask them to come to Hogwarts:_

_The Tonks family, the Weasley family, Cornelius Fudge, and Remus Lupin. All of you should go to the seventh floor, by the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. You should also bring the heads of all four Houses. _

_Once you are there you should walk three times past the wall opposite the portrait and think, "I need to see what the letter writer wants to show me."_

_One Sirius Black will also be there._

_Best Regards._

There was no signature. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.

Sirius Black would be there? The notorious Death Eater who was in Azkaban?

"Well, this _is_ an interesting situation" he muttered to himself, before going to follow the letter writer's instructions.

* * *

Later that day, all those listed in the letter, except Sirius Black, stood in the seventh floor corridor, watching Dumbledore pace three times in front of a blank wall, and wondering what was going on. Dumbbledore had read the letter to them, choosing not to mention the part about Sirius Black yet.

Suddenly a door appeared on the wall. Dumbledore stopped pacing and looked at it rather calmly, before turning the handle.

Everyone crowded through the doorway.

The room was filled with comfortable chairs, enough for every one of them, plus one more. In the middle of the room was a table. Seven books lay on it.

As they looked around the room, another door appeared on the opposite wall.

* * *

Sirius Black sat in his Azkaban cell, staring glumly at the wall. A moment later he jumped to his feet in astonishment, as a door appeared in the wall.

He cautiously approached it and opened it to reveal a tunnel. He stepped through the door. Wherever it led, it had to be better than here.

* * *

The reactions when Sirius Black walked out of the door that had appeared were , as might be expected,, shock, anger, and fear.

Albus Dumbledore raised his hand for silence, "I do not know what is going on, but the note I received said Sirius Black would also be here, so I suggest we all just calm down and figure out why we are here.

Percy, Arthur and Molly Weasley's seven-year-old son pointed to the table, "There's a note on top of one of the books.

Dumbledore picked up the note.

"It says to read these books." He picked up the first one, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"

Eyes all over the room widened, even those who did not know the Potters personally, of course knew of the events that had happened two years before, when Voldemort had been defeated.

"I suggest we all sit down. I will read first." Dumbledore said calmly.

**Please read and review.**


	2. Chapter 1: The Boy Who Lived

******Disclaimer: This site is called FANfiction, not authors post random stories about their own characters fiction. I'm a FAN, not J. K. Rowling.**

******Chapter 1**

Dumbledore cleared his throat,

** "****Chapter One: The Boy Who Lived"**

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**

"Who're Mr. and Mrs. Dursley?" Charlie Weasley asked, "I thought this book was about Harry Potter"

Sirius Black, who all the others were sitting as far away as possible from, and continually casting dirty suspicious looks at, frowned, as if trying to remember, he was sure he had heard the name before.

******They were the last people you'd expect to be involved with anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"That's no fun!" Yelled five-year-old Fred and George Weasley together. Their mother winced,

"Inside voices please boys"

******Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.**

"What's a drill?" Fudge asked, disgruntled at seeming ignorant in front of all these people,

"It's a tool muggles use to make holes in things" Ted Tonks answered.

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache.**

**Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.**

Tonks wrinkled her nose, "she doesn't sound like a very nice person"

**The Dursleys had a small boy called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

Everyone in the room, with the exception of Ron and Ginny, who were asleep , started listening closer.

"Of course" Sirius muttered to himself, "Lily's sister married a man named Dursley"

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years;** i**n fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.**

"And I'm sure they were glad of it" Sirius muttered with a scowl, glaring at the book. Remus looked at the book angrily too, then glanced at his ex-friend, wondering why the man who had betrayed them and gotten them killed would care that the Potters were being insulted.

******The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"Harry's a better child than your son will ever be!" Sirius snapped, getting many of incredulous or disgusted looks from the others, who were wondering the same thing as Remus.

******When Mr. And Mrs. Dursley woke upon the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country.**

******Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

"What a brat" said Percy, his small face scrunched in disgust.

******None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

******At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.**

"He's worse than Fred and George!" Percy exclaimed.

"Hey!"

**"********Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house.**

"Really?!" Molly snapped, "They don't even do anything about that behavior?!"

******He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

******It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar – a cat reading a map.**

Professor McGonagall sat up straighter in her chair.

******For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen – then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back.**

Dumbledore cast the Transfiguration professor an amused look, which she ignored.

******As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in the mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive – no, **_******looking**_****** at the sign; cats couldn't read maps **_******or**_****** signs. **

McGonagall made a tiny noise of exasperation.

******Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

******But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

"This must be the day You-Know-Who disappeared" Andromeda said, "We aren't usually that careless"

******Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes – the get-ups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of those weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together.**

Many of those in the room looked irritated at Dursley calling witches and wizards weirdos.

******Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt – these people were obviously collecting for something... yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings Parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

******Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. **_******He**_****** didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime.**

"They've never even seen an owl?" George asked.

"Don't they get letters?" Fred added.

"Muggles don't use owls for letters, boys" their father explained.

"They don't? Weird!"

**Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more.**

"Charming..." said McGonagall dryly.

******He was in a very good mood, until lunchtime, when he thought he'd go for a walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

******He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"********The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard-"**

**"********-yes, their son, Harry-"**

Several faces in the room darkened. Sirius' fists clenched and Remus paled slightly.

******Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

******He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his********telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back and stroked his mustache, thinking, no, he was being stupid.**

"I doubt it's the first time" Snape said dryly, producing a chuckle from the rest of the room, though Sirius looked somewhat annoyed that he found anything Snivellus said funny.

******Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't sure his nephew **_******was**_****** called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.**

"The entire wizarding world knows the boy's name, but his own uncle doesn't" Professor Sprout noted disapprovingly.

******There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister.**

Snape's lips tightened, thinking of Petunia, though no one noticed.

******He didn't blame her – if **_******he'd**_****** had a sister like that... but all the same, those people in cloaks…**

Sirius and Remus both glared at the book, several others in the room did as well, but their glares were the most prominent.

******He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at 5 o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

**"********Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell.**

******It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even muggles like yourself should be celebrating this happy, happy day!"**

All eyes turned to Professor Flitwick, who went vaguely pink and seemed to be fascinated by a particular spot on the wall.

******And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

******Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was.**

******He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never********hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"He sounds so boring!" Nymphadora Tonks said, as she turned her hair a brilliant shade of pink.

This raised some eyebrows in the room, from those who hadn't realized the girl was a metamorphagus. Two-year-old Ginny, who was now awake, pointed and exclaimed in a delighted voice,

"Pink! Pwetty!"

******As he pulled in the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw – and it didn't improve his mood – was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

**"********Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered.**

McGonagall rolled her eyes, sitting on that wall all day had not been an enjoyable experience, and Dursley had only increased her irritation by trying to shoo her.

Dumbledore looked at her in amusement, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.

******Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

******Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!").**

"Won't!" Ginny repeated, with a giggle.

******Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

**"********And finally, bird watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious.**

Fudge rubbed his forehead, "All the celebrations caused a horrific mess we had to clean up in the Ministry"

******And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

**"********Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early – it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

"Bonfire Night. They really will go to any lengths to ignore magic, won't they? Bless them" said Mr. Weasley fondly.

******Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…**

******Mrs. Dursley came into the room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her.**

******He cleared his throat nervously. "Er – Petunia, dear – you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?" As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister****.**

The anger of Sirius and Remus, along with others in the room, was apparent, but no one noticed how Snape's eyes narrowed.

**"********No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

**"********Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were lots of funny-looking people in town today..."**

"You're the funny looking one" Charlie Weasley muttered in annoyance, causing his siblings with the exception of Percy, to giggle.

**"**_******So?**_******" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

**"********Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you know... **_******her**_****** crowd."**

"Witches and wizards, Dursley" Snape said in his cold voice, "Surely even your tiny brain can manage those words"

******Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare.**

"Coward" Bill snickered.

**Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son – he'd be about Dudley's age now wouldn't he?"**

**"********I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

**"********What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

**"********Harry. Nasty, common name if you ask me****."**

**"********Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

******He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

******Was he imagining things?**

******Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of – well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

There were annoyed looks throughout the room, but no one commented.

******The Dursley's got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters **_******were**_****** involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley.**

******The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind... He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on – he yawned and turned over – it couldn't affect **_******them…**_

******How very wrong he was.**

"What is their part in all this anyway?" Molly Weasley asked, "I mean I know they're the Potter's relatives, but it's clear they haven't been in contact with them"

"You'll find out soon enough" Dumbledore replied.

******Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no signs of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't as much quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

******A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground.**

"A wizard then" Ted noted, "Perhaps now, we'll get some answers"

******The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

******Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice.**

"Not hard to guess who that is" Remus chuckled.

**This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

******Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. **

"Oh I realized it, I just didn't care" Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling in amusement.

******He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other side of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

******He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again – the next light flickered into darkness.**

"I've never heard of a device like that" Andromeda said, interested.

"Ah, one of my own little inventions" Dumbledore explained.

******Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer,********until the only lights left on the whole street were the two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their windows now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"********Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

All eyes turned to McGonagall, some of those in the room had suspected as much.

"Why were you there, Minerva?" Professor Sprout asked, curiously.

"I'm sure it will be revealed soon enough" McGonagall replied with a curt nod to the book.

******He turned to smile at the tabby, but it was gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

**"********How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

"Dumbledore always seems to know everything" Arthur chuckled.

**"********My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

**"********You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

**"********All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed at least a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

******Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

**"********Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently.**

"Not everyone was celebrating that night" Remus said quietly.

**"********You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no – even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursley's dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent – I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

**"********You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

Remus sighed. His emotions had certainly been a mess that day,Voldemort was gone, but so were Lily and James, and worse, it had been one of his best friends who had betrayed them.

**"********I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

******She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really **_******has**_****** gone, Dumbledore?"**

**"********It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

**"********A **_******what?**_******"**

**"********A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

**"********No thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops.**

"Well_ really_" said McGonagall in frustration, "Offering me sweets at a time like that"

**"As I say, even if You-Know-Who **_******has**_****** gone-****"**

**"********My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense – for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: **_******Voldemort.**_******"**

Several in the room flinched at the name, causing Dumbledore to shake his head in exasperation.

**Professor McGonagall flinched but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing, if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who'. I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

**"********I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh all right, **_******Voldemort**_******, was frightened of."**

The children were staring at Dumbledore with something like awe.

**"********You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort has powers I will never have."**

**"********Only because you're too – well – **_******noble**_****** to use them."**

**"********It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madame Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

This caused some raised eyebrows and a few laughs.

******Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the **_******rumors**_****** that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?****"**

******It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

**"********What they're **_******saying**_******," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hallow. He went to find the Potters.**

******The rumor is that Lily and James Potter – are – that they're **_******dead**_******."**

The mood in the room darkened considerably. Remus was very white, and Sirius was shaking slightly.

******Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**"********Lily and James… I can't believe it… I don't want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"**

******Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily.**

******Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry.**

Sirius had his face buried in his hands, oblivious to the looks of disgust and disbelief from the others, who clearly thought he was trying to trick them somehow.

******But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone."**

******Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

**"********It's - it's **_******true?**_******" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… He couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

**"********We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

******Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. **

The atmosphere was so solemn that even Ron and Ginny, who didn't really understand what was going on, crawled onto their parents laps and sat with wide, solemn eyes, Ginny sucking her thumb and Ron clutching a teddy bear.

******Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands, but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

**"********Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me **_******why**_****** you're here, of all places?"**

**"********I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

"You brought him to _them_?!" Molly said, horrified, "But they hate his family! They hate magic!"

"It was necessary" Dumbledore replied.

**"********You don't mean - you **_******can't**_****** mean the people who live **_******here?**_******" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

Molly nodded in agreement.

**"********It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

**"********A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, ********sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in the future -there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will know his name!"**

"Well, there isn't a Harry Potter Day, but all the rest of your predictions came true" Flitwick noted.

**"********Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

"If he's anything like his father the boy will have a big enough head without that" Snape sneered, receiving furious glares from many of the others. Sirius in particular looking like he wanted to leap up and hex him.

******Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But, how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he********might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

**"********Hagrid's bringing him."**

**"********You think it - **_******wise**_****** - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

**"********I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

"And I still stand by that statement"

**"********I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?"**

******A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they looked up at the sky - and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

Sirius wondered bitterly what would have happened if he had just taken Harry and run, rather than giving the bike to Hagrid.

******If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide.**

******He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so **_******wild**_****** - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets****.**

**"********Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

**"********Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me.**

_Why give him the motorbike?_ Remus wondered bleakly, staring at his ex-friend,_ Why not just kill Harry then and there?_

******I've got him, sir."**

******"No problems, were there?"**

******"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

******Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just barely visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

"Ow" said Ginny, rubbing her own forehead, and eliciting a weak chuckle from some of the others.

******"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

******"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

******"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

******"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself that is a perfect map of the London underground. **

All eyes were on Dumbledore in bewilderment,

"How did you-" Andromeda began, then shook her head, "Never mind, I'm not entirely sure I want to know"

******Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."**

******Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned towards the Dursleys' house.**

******"Could I - could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

******"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall. "You'll wake the Muggles!"**

******"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted Handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead -an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"**

Molly smiled sadly, "Say what you will about Hagrid, but you can't doubt he has a big heart"

******"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gingerly on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.**

"I can't believe you would just leave a baby on a doorstep" Molly said with a furious look at Dumbledore.

******For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

******"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

******"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - and Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

"That'll be a bit hard after they cart me away to Azkaban" Sirius muttered bitterly, though no one heard him.

******Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine to life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

******"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

******Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

******"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. **

"I have a feeling he'll need it, from what we've seen of this family" Sprout murmured.

******He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

******A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect anything astonishing to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles,**

Snape rolled his eyes to himself. He could just picture Petunia's reaction to this.

**nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley….**

"Brat" Percy repeated.

** He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"**

"And that's the end of the chapter" Dumbledore said quietly, "Who would like to read next?"

"I'll do it" said Fudge, and Dumbledore handed him the book.

******Hope you liked it. I'd love it if you would review.**


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